There is still a lot he doesn’t know about the dungeon to make such a commitment. So he focused on what he can do.
He made his fourth gate and returned to the battlefield. He was getting stronger and stronger but only slowly. The gates need time to accumulate momentum. They aren’t for instant power-ups. He can choose to sacrifice his first one to enter a godly state of power that even mana entities won’t be able to stand against him but he will lose that gate forever.
Instead, he is using the gates to empower himself gradually. What’s worse is that the energy he needed for each consecutive one increased exponentially. He needs to struggle more and more to get the required energy.
He just stayed around the exit of the tunnel and killed the soldiers there. It was a decision he made when he realized that the dungeon will heal damage to itself by reverting changes to its constructs and environment. It’s probably a defense mechanism to prevent itself from being destroyed.
It was another new thing that Soverick found out after fighting deep within the army for a long time. He didn’t want the giant rocks to block the paths of the attackers or the exit of the tunnel. But then he realized that he was seeing less and less of the rocks that had been thrown at him. They were disappearing, and so were the giant arrows and harpoons.
“That’s good news and all but that also means nothing can be done from within the dungeon to damage it unless the dungeon core is destroyed.”
This fact was stated within the reports but he didn’t know that it would work out like this. The dungeon was reverting all physical changes to its terrain. He just shook his head and returned to the tunnel.
It was almost full now with soldiers and more are still matching in.
“What’s the word, Army commander?” His first general asked him.
They were asking if they will need to abort this expedition.
“I have tested their defense multiple times. It has allowed me to become familiar with their attack patterns and various reactions. Let me rest now before I go and take out their catapults. Their presence on the battlefield means our doom. So I have to destroy them.” He answered brusquely before sitting down to create the fifth gate.
He didn’t tell them that he had tried several times to destroy the catapults but failed. That would shake their faith in their army commander. Still, his general got the severity of the situation. If the catapults don’t go, then we can’t move forward. That will mean a return. So the general asked.
“Will you be able to take out the catapults, sir?”
Soverick nodded as if it was natural. “I will. Just let me rest my body and mind.”
It is his job as the leader to show confidence. His confidence will boost and keep morale high. Morale is a very important thing to an army.
He also didn’t tell them that he was doing something very important that could damage him severely if he fails. He doesn’t trust anyone in the army. They are just tools, his tools. Tools can cut you, just like a knife you use for cooking can injure you. The moment a dictator relaxes around his underlings is when death starts to come for him. so he didn’t ask them for protection or quiet.
To them, he is just resting. It will take the senses of a sovereign to determine what is going on in his body. A normal vitality core stage refiner will not be able to move when creating a gate, unlike him. Then again, a normal vitality core stage refiner won’t be able to create a gate at this stage without the body control, energy manipulation, and the understanding of life that he possesses.
His back arched and his spine complained with the increased load of the gates. The gates were situated on his spine which is making it complain, but he hasn’t reached his limit yet. He didn’t show any sign of his pain too. Only a grim determination to perform what is needed for the progress of the arm was shown on his face. The tunnel was full by the time the fifth gate was finally constructed.
He looked back at the soldiers in formation. They stood side by side and arranged in order. They were 30 in a line. That is how wide the tunnel is and how much it can’t take.
“I’ll tell you if we will match forward or postpone our advance through the communication network.” Soverick declared.
“Yes, sir.” They all saluted.
He blurred like the wind and he was gone.
‘Will he really be able to get rid of the catapults?’ The general asked himself.
Their front lines could see the canyon and the army of angels waiting for them. They could also see the towering catapults in the distance. They knew that crossing the space between the exit of the tunnel to the front lines of the defenders will be deadly with the presence of the catapults.
So they were all hoping for Soverick’s success. Their hearts were hammering in their chest. The sound of their beating heart was loud until they saw what Soverick was doing and their hearts dropped with their jaws. They didn’t know what Soverick’s aim was but it looked humiliating at first glance.
Soverick shook his head at the angelic army as he approached. They didn’t take up arms against him. He was too fast for them to track and fend off. So they were content with just blocking him with their bodies. It was the action to the words, “if you want to pass, you will have to go through me.”
It is laughable that an army will be forced to do this just for a single person. But it is what it is. It is all they can do to stop “The aberrant mutant,” and it has been working so far.